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>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> david schuster in for bill press. i have more on current.com about john kerry and why president obama should give him the job of secretary of state and not ambassador susan rice. nothing against ambassador susan

rice. it is just that john kerry deserves it. he's the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and oh, by the way again without john kerry saying oh yeah, president obama, barack obama you can do the keynote speech in 2004 when you're only a state senator who's running for senate without that opportunity, there is no obama campaign in 2008. john kerry wants the job. give it to him. got some guy malcolm johnson would calls that 100% idiotic statement. too bad, malcolm. that's how it is. special shout out to the folks on twitter. dab ra and alan -- debra and alan and a couple of others. honesty following us on twitter. >> tweeting at bp show, on this topic, patricia says the media has been reduced to reporting g.o.p. conspiracy theories which is a good point. buckeye kenny saying they're going to try to turn this into something to ruin the president and on your comments about john

kerry, j. h. z. says john kerry and state put scott brown in the senate. just a thought. >> what? >> doesn't necessarily put him in the senate but he would probably run for that seat. >> we were making this point on the show yesterday and some listeners agreed with john fuglesang who said if john kerry is not in the senate anymore scott brown will run for that seat. >> he'll run for it but that doesn't mean that scott brown necessarily wins. barney frank could win. well, all right. i see the point. let's get a couple more callers. patty from seattle. you're on the "bill press show." good morning. hello, patty. all right. >> no patty from seattle. >> charles from tampa, florida. charles, good morning. you're on the "bill press show" we hope. >> caller: good morning. how you doing today? >> good. good to hear your voice. >> great to hear yours. on the benghazi thing with the c.i.a. and them doing the investigation. if it was a republican in

office you guys would be harping all over it. what we need to find out is why the c.i.a. -- if all information is given to why they knew about what was going on probably happened -- >> hey charles did you not hear the show ten minutes ago? i said exactly that. i said we need to have some hearings and investigation as to why the c.i.a. fed wrong information or got wrong information and by the way yeah, it is a good comparison as far as republicans because i seem to recall that agencies of the bush administration got the intelligence wrong or in some cases, got it right and oh, by the way that intelligence was twisted by the bush administration and then 4,000 americans die in a war called iraq. so yes. >> that's the point i'm making is that we have to find out why certain information was not given out. it doesn't matter who's in office we need to find out why it was done and we need to get

better -- because the chain of command goes up. this is irrelevant. why should the president go about it. >> let's put the c.i.a. under the spotlight. find out why they got it wrong. joey from chicago illinois. you're listening to us from wcpt in chicago. >> caller: yes, i think you covered what i was going to say. i was calling about susan rice and if kerry left his seat, they would possibly -- scott brown would get in, god forbid. but thank you for listening to me anyway. i listen to you every morning. >> we appreciate you listening to us. thanks for being part of it. look democrats picked up two seats in the u.s. senate. they've got two extra seats. yes if john kerry goes to the state department, there is a special election but it doesn't mean a slam dunk that scott brown or any other republican wins that seat. and oh, by the way i still think president obama owes john kerry. keep in mind, the president's speech that he just had in this election on election night where

he said we're not in red states and the blue states, we're the united states. that was a riff on his speech he gave at the democratic convention back in 2004 and oh, by the way he doesn't get that platform as a state senator from illinois who's running for senate. he doesn't get that platform had it not been for john kerry. who, by the way, john kerry has been a steadfast supporter showed up at all of the debates defending president obama. give the job to john kerry. he's good at it. he knows all of the world leaders from his time in the senate on the foreign relations committee. give susan rice something else. i don't know. coming up, macy's and why you should never ever shop at macy's again. i'm telling you when the "bill press show" continues.

how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> welcome back to the "bill press show." david schuster in for bill press on this friday morning. 1-866-55-press. we're going to try to do this next segment without mentioning the name of somebody who certainly doesn't deserve anymore attention but for the sake of this segment we're going to refer to this developer, this pseudofreak we're going to refer to him as toupee chump. now, now toupee chup on election night said it is a total sham and a travesty. we're not a democracy.

then he said more votes equals a loss revolution. that was pretty bad. but it wasn't as bad as his offer in the midst of hurricane sandy because remember, toupee chump had offered $5 million toú president obama's charity of choice if the president released his college transcripts. in the midst of hurricane sandy toupee chump issued another e-mail saying he was extending the deadline not showing any sort of sympathy or recognition of what a horrible situation the folks were going through in new jersey and new york. toupee chump said his message would be we're extending the deadline. oh, by the way the hurricane's not going to delay filming of our show on nbc. so because of all of that, there was a person who decided to start a petition to start a petition to try to get macy's, which features a signature line of clothing from toupee chump to drop mr. toupee chump so this petition started a couple of

weeks ago has now gathered, let's see 600,000 signatures. and 600,000 signatures and it has also prompted a response from the ceo of macy's. before i get to that response, i want to remind you though, if toupee chump's clothes happen to be made in the united states, happen to be made in america happen to be helping create american jobs, then i would suggest that this petition drive, this effort to fire toupee chump is a bad idea but the fact of the matter none of toupee chump's signature line of clothing is made here. where is it made? it is made in china! that signature line doesn't say made in the u.s. toupee chump is trying to get you to help create jobs in china even as he says we need to get tough with china. how tough is he getting with china? he's having his clothes made there. all of the clothes he sells in macy's are made in china. >> that's amazing. that really is amazing. i don't understand how he can

walk with balls that big. to be running around talking about how we should get out of bed with china and sells clothes made in china. >> yep. so let's find the -- i'm trying to find the story now that's got his -- oh, so anyway, yeah, the ridiculous thing he's got his clothes made in china. and so here's this petition. so macy's has on its web site, folks, this is why i'm encouraging everybody. i'm declaring to anybody listening to the show, watching the show or who hears about this, from now on, don't set foot into macy's until macy's fires toupee chump because again, we're not mentioning his real name on the show. until macy's does that, i'm encouraging everybody to blockade macy's. don't let your friends or family shop there. send macy's a message. join this petition. macy's by the way touts on its

web site the commitment to social belief. it believes that actions speak louder than words when it comes to helping tackle some of the biggest problems facing us today. well, one of the biggest problems facing american manufacturing today is that a lot of textiles are made overseas particularly in places like china. one way we can all take action, that speaks louder than words is to actually not buy clothes that are made in china. don't buy the clothes made from a signature line from the guy whose name rhymes with toupee chump. because macy's is not being responsive to this petition, urging that they fire this idiot, that's a great reason not to shop at macy's at all. the ceo of macy's responded to the petition drive issuing a statement on wednesday. and he said "many of the individuals associated with products sold at macy's or at any retailer for that matter express personal opinions that are not related to the

merchandise we sell or to the philosophies of our company. that is the nature of a free society." that's true. but it is a nature of a free society that we get to use this platform and any other that we want to say macy's shame on you. everybody, blockade macy's. don't shop at macy's. tell macy's they can go take a hike because it is our free society. we have a right and we have an opportunity right now to say macy's, if you want to sell products by toupee chump we aren't going to buy any of your products or step in your store. >> vote with your wallet. >> peter are we being too tough? >> no. we're not saying macy's should be shut down. we're not saying anything like that. we're not saying they should be banned banned banned from selling these products. but if they would like my dollar, then they won't sell these products. >> when i was a local reporter in arkansas back 16 years ago one of the great stories that had such a huge impact on me was we covered the story of a town

that its major factory was a textile factory. they made shirts, dress shirts, men's dress shirts. textile. 500 people lost their job. only had about 3,000 in it. the town dried up. it was horrific. i'll never forget the number of workers saying this could be avoided if americans would just buy products made in the u.s.a. so i decided back then that when it came to buying men's suits which is the biggest clothing purchase that i make and i buy a couple of suits each year, i won't buy them from foreign-made manufacturers. i'm going to buy them from hickey freeman or hart schaffner marx, suits i know are made in the u.s.a. with american-made materials. it is simple. suits, they look great. anybody watches tv will say wow shuster's got some snappy looking suits. they're american made. that's my little part to try to contribute to american manufacturing. i'm not saying that i buy cars that are american made but we all have to make certain choices and that's where i try to make

my choice. but for toupee chump to encourage buy my signature line of clothing. it's made in china. never mind the fact that the guy is an idiot and he's reprehensible and he talked about a revolution after this election. put aside all of the crazy nonsense he always says. just because his stuff is made in china he doesn't even choose to invest in america. he doesn't believe enough in american workers. so i say fine. we don't believe in him or we don't believe in the company selling his clothing. >> and if that's not reason enough for you the fact that his clothes are made in china look at everything else that defines this person. you know, the birther racist comments, making an ass out of himself by show me the college tran script and i'll give you $5 million to a charity. let's say the made in china thing isn't your issue. there are other issues. there are plenty of reasons to hate this guy.

>> yeah. >> don't give him your money. >> don't make him somebody who is a featured brand in your store which is what macy's is doing which is why we're saying stop shopping at macy's. let's go to don in new hampshire. you're on the "bill press show." good morning. >> caller: how is it going? dave, you're awesome. i like listening to you especially on the show. >> thank you. >> caller: listen, this crap with snake head -- [ laughter ] >> i like that. >> caller: listen, you know, for a guy who can sit here and say how american he is but sit there and use slave shops all around the country you know, this is getting ridiculous and now if we go back to the debates where romney was saying that he wants to start looking at latin america for different outsourcing. yeah, that's because he burns his bridges in china and now they want to use the low wages over in latin america.

to start doing the same thing they were doing before. everybody got caught in china. >> i'm right there with you. by the way for folks if you're outraged by this, if you're outraged at macy's for continuing to hire this clown this snake head as don just suggested or somebody that we're referring to as toupee chump if you're outraged, you want to do something besides not shopping at macy's, if you want to do something else, you can go online to signon.org and the petition is right there. 615,000. by this weekend, we're going to try to get this thing up to a million. allen from new bedford massachusetts, you're on the "bill press show." >> caller: good morning. i don't know if you guys saw it last monday night but david letterman had donald trump on his show. >> we can't hear the name. we can't hear the name. >> don't say the name. >> toupee chump. >> thank you. >> caller: he was making trump -- >> come on. what are you doing? >> we're trained professionals in this studio.

we'll cut. >> little bit of slack. toupee chump is on the letterman. what happened? >> he made him look like a chump. he pulled out one of his shirts and he looks at the label. made in indonesia. he pulls out the tie. nice tie. toupee chump is sitting there with a smirk on his face. he flips the tie over. made in china. and toupee chump gave that stupid smirk of his. they went off to a commercial. come back. he was never there again. >> look, i've got a big problem with macy's, i don't understand why nbc continues to give this toupee chup a show. we'll continue our conversation at 1-866-55-press. the "bill press show" continues. don't buy at macy's folks. take action. we can do this. we can send them a message. the show continues after this. >> announcer: this is the "full

court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on >>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

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buy now. save later. >>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

>> announcer: radio meets >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> david shuster here. we're talking about toupee chump. that's not his real name but you can figure out what we're talking about. toupee chump with his toupee. developer status. his crazy comments about calling for a revolution because president obama got elected and now he's not backing down, of

course. neither is macy's. we're encouraging everybody to go to signon.org and join the petition, tell macy's to fire toupee chump and his signature line of clothing. here's what i'm getting at about his signature line of clothing being made overseas. he said on fox news two years ago and i quote "the problem with our country is we don't manufacture anything anymore. the stuff that's been sent over from china falls apart after a year and a half. it's crap." it is crap. and that very same toupee chump his line of clothing, it is made in china. actually not all of it is made in china. some of it is apparently from mexico and bangladesh. toupee chump doesn't invest in the united states. macy's invests in him. we're telling macy's to take a hike. what have you got on twit summer. >> at the petition site, they have 634,000 signatures. they need 650,000. we just tweeted out a link at

bpshow at bp show where we're tweeting. sign up to -- the hash tag on twitter is dump trump. i know we're not saying the name but now you know where to find it. that's the one time. on twitter jessica says if macy's floats mr. chump's toupee during the holiday parade, i may consider shopping there again. >> if macy's supports racist, i will not shop there. ans at a sha says how about we give money to the charity of our choice to deport him to the country where his clothes are made. patricia says so toupee church is engaging in more fleecing of america. g.o.p. has gotten very good at this. >> i'm going to sweeten the offer. not only am i going to say we should not stop at macy's but i'm going to do a little carrot and stick approach. if macy's does fire toupee chump, if they do get rid of toupee chump's signature line of

clothing, i promise that the next two suits that i buy -- and i need to buy some more suits, i will buy them from macy's. i will spend at least a couple of grand at macy's buying products assuming i can find some that are made in the u.s.a. i'll bet macy's has a couple. >> i would hope so. >> ly -- i will spend some money if they fire him. i'm saying we should withhold money and do the carrot and stick approach. >> i like that. >> arlene in philadelphia. you're on the "bill press show." good morning. >> caller: nice to talk to you. >> good to have you. >> caller: something about macy's is they're one of the very few anchor stores around anymore. now i'm a progressive liberal. i voted for our president last time and this time. i would vote for him again. but macy's has eaten up and i don't know if you're familiar with philadelphia but we had some really nice family-run, fine department stores that don't exist anymore. unless you want to go very, very

high end. >> such a good point. they're crowning out the market place. they're essentially able to undercut the competition by having clothes that are made in china. and when you have a high-profile spokesperson like toupee chump that gets a lot of attention you know, i suppose -- i suppose for some people to go out and buy it some republicans buy it because he says so. it is a great point about macy's and while they're all about social responsibility, what about the responsibility to the mom and pop-owned stores that cannot compete because oh, by the way, some of the mom and pop stores are trying to find products that are made in america and maybe they cost a couple dollars more. mark from harper's ferry, west virginia, your even the "bill press show." >> caller: how you doing? macy's might be wise to take a lesson from the playbook of the susan g. komen foundation. they found out how taking an unpopular position affected their bottom line. people -- when they get behind something, they get motivated. i know myself, i definitely vote

with my dollars. macy's can count on getting absolutely no business from me. >> god bless you mark. we appreciate it so much. you know what, folks? the pocketbook, it does speak volumes. i guarantee that shareholders in macy's who are extremely nervous. if we can all make them more nervous and get the petition which now has over 630 signatures at signon.org and you get that up to a million, i think the ceo of macy's instead of defending toupee chump will say there's no inherent right to represent our company especially when you're as much of a clown as this guy. by the way the products are not even made in america. we'll take a quick break. more of the "bill press show" after this. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. again, sununu is dead wrong. it doesn't mean there are fewer students. it doesn't mean there are fewer

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> david shuster in for bill press. we're talking about toupee chump and macy's and a great piece. we're encouraging everybody to go to signon.org. sign the petition. get macy's to fire toupee chump because of his outrageous statements and the fact that the clothes, the signature line at macy's he promotes are not even made in the united states. most of the stuff is made in china. there is a great piece in the "washington post" by alexandra petrie. when we think of macy's, most of us think of the macy's thanksgiving parade when dozens of balloons dangle over the streets of new york city to the alarm of small child. i defy you to find any phrase that more perfectly describes

toupee chump than a giant balloon inflated to gigantic proportions. sometimes he floats outside 45th floor windows. the only difference between him and one of macy's inflatables is that he is full of hot air. well-done. >> well said. well said. >> again, folks, if you want to take action, go to signon.org. i guarantee if this petition gets up to a million, i have a feeling -- i'm going to guarantee it, i'm going to guarantee the ceo of macy's will have a change of heart. this petition continues to grow, continues to gain traction, toupee chump for his own good and for the good of macy's will voluntarily withdraw. what cares about his signature line of clothes. >> he does. >> he does. look, if you want a good -- hart schaffner marx is not sponsors of this show or one i do on the

weekend. buy them, they've look good. you can buy things that are made in the united states and help out your fellow workers your fellow citizens. help out the manufacturing sector which even donald -- i'm sorry, even toupee chump acknowledges, even the toupee man acknowledges we need to do something to rebuild our sector even if he's not willing to do anything himself. coming up next hour, more of your calls at 1-866-55-press. we will talk next hour about the bp oil spill and a record fine and settlement that they're paying and some strange words and how it was described by attorney general eric holder. you're going to love this. a little more about president obama when the "bill press show" continues.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> good morning everybody. david shuster here on the bill press. this is friday morning. we've got a great show coming up for you today. a record settlement, bp, the oil giant that was responsible for the deaths of 11 people in the gulf coast they have agreed to pay more than $4 billion $4 billion. what is our government to going to do with that money? we'll play for you an amazing clip by attorney general eric holder who said not only is bp responsible for the involuntary manslaughter of 11 americans but also they violated the migratory bird act.

what? also coming up, we finally have some signs that perhaps democrats may -- they're standing firm on the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. we'll get into that. troubling signs on the horizon. all of that coming up on our great show. first, lisa ferguson has the headlines from current. lisa? >> hi, david. good morning everyone. former c.i.a. director david petraeus will testify today on the attacks in benghazi. he's scheduled to be in front of the house intelligence committee at 7:30 this morning. and then move on to the senate committee at 9:00. both of these appointments were on petraeus' schedule long before the details of his affair came out last week. many are questioning the timing of his retirement, suggesting it might have something to do with the details on these attacks and hearings over what went down in benghazi. petraeus volunteered to keep these appointments. it is his own way of showing he has nothing to hide. many members of congress think he will be able to provide valuable information. here's senator dianne feinstein.

>> director petraeus went to tripoli. he interviewed many of the people as i understand it, that were involved. and so the opportunity to get his views i think are very important. >> while these hearings are scheduled to deal only with the benghazi attacks, congress will likely bring up petraeus' extramarital affair with paula broadwell. lawmakers question top c.i.a. and fbi officials at hearings yesterday after investigators found classified information on broadwell's computer earlier this week. so far only the fbi has investigated petraeus but now the c.i.a. says it will open up its own investigation. yesterday's hearings also turned sour for the president when republican representative dana roar becker accused him of lying to the american people. although democrats did quickly jump to the president's defense. more david shuster on the "full court press" up after the break. stay with us.

>>oh really? >>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio an on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> good morning everybody. david shuster sitting in for bill press on this friday morning, november 16th. we're going to be talking about the bp oil spill and a record settlement the company has it's greed to pay the u.s. government. we'll talk about that in just a moment. a little bit of nervousness for democrats looking at the negotiations between president obama and the congressional republicans over the bush tax cuts which are due to expire at the end of the year. president obama wants to have those tax cuts expire for everybody making more than

$250,000. but that may be a little bit squishy. listen to the democratic leader of the house nancy pelosi. >> we're open to a grand bargain and however we get to the place where we can have significant deficit reduction now the president campaigned on the 250. american people support that. i think that's where a good deal of leverage is. >> in other words the democrats will settle for just taxes going up and people making more than a million dollars. $1 million. that will be the final deal. president obama, a lot of folks in washington as we prepare for a hearing this morning on benghazi and general petraeus who is going to be testifying this morning a lot of people still talking about the dust up between republicans and the obama administration over susan rice. she went out on the sunday talk shows and got some of the information wrong about what happened in benghazi. president obama on wednesday strongly defended her in the wake of attacks from senators john mccain and lindsey

graham. >> obama: if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence she had received and besmirch her reputation it is outrageous. >> this fight over benghazi is getting nasty peter ogborn. >> yeah, it is. it is. and sadly, it's becoming politicized because there may be a real issue there but who knows. there's so much noise from republicans, especially that we're clouding the issue. >> dan henning with the "full court press" this morning. dan? >> this is the "full court press." >> good morning, gentlemen. other headlines making news on this friday. movie night at the white house last night. the hill reports president obama

invited the cast and crew of "lincoln" over to his house for a private screening of the new in i have out this weekend. daniel day-lewis steven spielberg were expected to be there although the white house did not release an official guest list. president of course has a strong admiration for president lincoln both from illinois and he used lincoln's bible when he was sworn in as president four years ago. >> hmm, the cast of "lincoln." were they in full costume? >> obama was wearing his big hat. >> after "people" magazine named its sexiest man alive for the year this week channing tatum the onion made its choice yesterday. kim jon untook the leader for his handsome round face and sturdy charm. previous sexiest man of the year named by the onion include assad, madoff and the koch brothers. >> christie is vying for it next year. >> the national toy hall of fame in rochester new york,

announced its two inductees for this year yesterday. "star wars" action figures. they've been on sale since 1978 are now in. as are domino's which have been trying to get in for years. other finalists that did not make it this time around include the magic 8 ball, the pogo stick, the games clue and twister and sidewalk chalk. >> sidewalk chalk. >> did not make it in. >> they didn't make it in. >> maybe next year. >> maybe because it is associated with murders. just saying. >> oh, come on! okay. all right. we're talking about toys here. >> like my kids have a big bucket of sidewalk chalk. they haven't drawn any body outlines yet. >> shuster, really! >> let's change topics. >> i'm all for pete rose in the toy hall of fame. let him in. >> we're so pleased to be joined this morning by mike magner, an editor at the "national journal," covers energy and environmental issues. also the author of this great book called "the human cost of bp's rise to power," terrific

book. he's an expert on all things bp which is a good thing because bp has just settled and has agreed to pay our government $4.5 billion related to this spill in the gulf. first of all mike, what do you make of it? >> it is an amazing amount of money. eric holder said yesterday it is the biggest criminal settlement in u.s. history. i think the last one was around half of that or less than half of that against the drug company. yet at the same time, there are people who say it is not enough. given the scope of this spill. in fact, one group, a public citizen yesterday said $4 billion is about 20% of bp's annual profits these days. >> oh, man. >> the government gave them five years to pay these penalties down. and now about half of that money will go back into the gulf. according to holder. for restoration efforts. >> national fish and wildlife foundation. >> right. right.

but people down there, i talked to a guy in louisiana who is in charge of -- garrett graves in charge of their authority over the spill cleanup. he said that that's just kind of a drop in the bucket compared to what's needed. they still have 200 miles of shoreline largely wetland areas that haven't been cleaned up because it is hard to clean up. grasses that are soaked with oil. without doing further damage. so there is a long way to go in the cleanup. >> has bp -- we remember the campaign that they ran when this happened. a strong p.r. campaign so say they're going to stay in the gulf. have they taken full responsibility? >> in some ways, yes. they've acknowledged they're liable and in the settlement yesterday, they're pleading guilty to felony charges for manslaughter in the deaths of the 11 people that died on the rig. and you know, they've pledged to do whatever it takes to clean up. of course, you know, the company that has to respond to its

investors, they're going to try to do that in as low-cost way as possible. >> a lot of people only know bp because of the gulf spill and you talk about some other instances in this book. poison legacy, that the company's reputation has been established through other incidents as well. explain. >> in 2005, they had refinery in texas that exploded with one of the worst industrial accidents in history. 15 people died and it was found that largely because they were cutting corners on safety standards and equipment was not well maintained and it resulted in this massive explosion when they were starting up one of the buildings for refining operations. and then a year after that, they had a leak in their pipe up in alaska. that resulted in the largest onland oil spill up in alaska. and they've paid quite a bit of

damages for that. and it actually ended up shutting down america's largest oil field in the prudhoe bay because they were unable to get oil out of there safely because the pipeline had been so poorly maintained. they had a track record going into the big spill in the gulf. >> i know that some environmentalists like to point out that bp, unlike exxon is actually on the spectrum a little bit more friendly to environmental issues because of their recognition of global warming. but how does that -- does that mitigate some of their safety record compared to the other oil companies? >> i don't think so. i mean they started -- under their previous chairman, lord john brown, he was kind of a maverick on climate change and wanted to do something about it. was one of the first oil company leaders in the late '90s to acknowledge we need to do something about climate change. they capitalized on that with their image. i don't know if you remember but

back before all of these problems, they had this advertising campaign beyond petroleum that bp stood for beyond petroleum and it caught on. it was considered one of the most successful environmental green marketing campaigns ever. but then it seems that on the other side on the safety issues and what they were really doing in their operations, it was a little bit of a different story. >> is their safety much worse than the oil companies? is there an exponential difference or are all of them lax with safety and environmental concerns? >> i suppose a lot of companies try to do it as cheaply as possible. but it's interesting. after the big oil spill in alaska the exxon valdez, exxon learned a lot from that and actually has one of the greatest safety records in the entire oil industry with fewer incidents. bp never had those problems and got away with a lot of things.

but it came back to bite them, obviously in texas and alaska and then in the gulf of mexico. >> eric holder, the attorney general, before we head to a break, i want to play for you the clip wherehe announced the charges and the way he lumped everything together struck us as odd. >> charging bp with 11 counts of felony manslaughter. one count of felony obstruction of justice. and violation of the clean water and migratory treaty acts in connection with the deep water horizon oil spill. >> never mind that i thought he said tweety acts instead of treaty acts. it does seem strange when you hear 11 felony counts and violation of the migratory bird act. >> it is like going after al capone for income tax. >> what was the obstruction of justice he was referring to? >> that involves the kinds of information they provided to congress and the cleanup teams right after the spill occurred.

they greatly underestimated the amount of oil coming out of that well and told congress -- i think the figures were something -- 5,000 barrels a day coming out. and it ended up being ten times more than that. and they told that to their investors as well which is why they were fined more than half a billion dollars by the s.e.c. because they were misleading investors about what was going on down there. >> we're going to take a break but on the other side, mike magner from the "national journal." i want to ask you more about the status of the gulf now. where things stand environmentally. how bad is it down there when the "bill press show" continues right here on your local radio station and also on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> welcome back, everybody. david schuster in for bill on this friday morning. so glad to have you with us. we're talking with mike magner, the "national journal" energy and environment managing editor. he's also got this terrific book called poisoned legacy, great read about bp's rise to power. bp both on how they handled the gulf coast spill but also some other things in their record. mike, how bad are things in the coast right now? >> oh, boy, there is a long way to go on the cleanup. bp spilled an estimated five million barrels of oil into the gulf and in addition to a lot of natural gas that leaked and then when they were trying to clean it up, they used all of these

dispersants, these chemicals that have really never been used on that scale. they cleaned up a lot of it by burning some of it off the surface and scrubbing what landed on the beaches but i talked yesterday to people in louisiana who say that there's still at least a million barrels out there. some of it is in wetlands in louisiana that's really difficult to clean up. and some of it -- because of the dispersants is still floating around out there. in particles and at the bottom of the ocean. >> we don't know what the dispersants might do. have they seen any anecdotal evidence yet about the impact of this dispersants? >> that's the thing. it takes a long time to find out what the effect on species are because from generation to generation, these things build up in their systems. governor jindal in louisiana said yesterday that the fishery -- the shrimp and oysters is in decline. and there is a lot of concern about whether they'll bounce back to the levels they were

before. the oysters really took a hit. they can't survive in that kind of environment. and so there's a long -- it could take decades before we know the impact, for example, on tuna and some of the other species of fish because, as i said, things build up. you don't know. >> something you were pointing out during the break which i didn't realize is that even though bp has agreed to pay the settlements to the s.e.c. and the federal government, there is a civil suit they're pushing forward with. >> that's under the clean water act. they're attempting to prove gross negligence led to this spill and if they can do that, they can be fined up to $4400 per barrel that was leaked and that could total more than $20 billion. if the government's able to make that case. there's a trial set to begin in february down in new orleans in u.s. district court. bp may settle before that. if they can -- if the government and the states all agree that

the amount that they propose is okay. >> still individual lawsuits. folks affected by the business. >> there are thousands of cases where companies, tourist industries fishermen have filed suit. bp offered them a settlement of nearly $8 billion in the spring. all of that is being considered still by a federal judge down there. >> then there's also the criminal investigation which you pointed out -- >> it removes the cloud of charges over the company. they pleaded guilty. there were three bp individuals though that were charged with manslaughter because of the deaths and for lying to congress. they still have that hanging over their heads. but holder said that the investigation will remain open. i don't think there will be further criminal charges against the company but there could be individual charges. >> if they don't testify honestly in any one of these cases, missed opportunity as well. let's go to the callers. jean from brattleboro vermont you're on the "bill press show" with david shuster and mike

magner. welcome. >> caller: good morning. i listen to the "bill press show" on wkvt. >> excellent. >> caller: i just wondered now that bp has pled guilty to a criminal act or two or three, if mr. holder can find some way to use that plea to chip away at citizens united since if corporations are people, how come this one isn't in jail? [ laughter ] >> mike, what about the idea of taking bp essentially out of our society for awhile? perhaps with a fine that's so great and so strong that they can't operate? >> i'm not sure the government really wants to do that. bp, for example is a big supplier of oil and energy supplies to the military. and they could, under these criminal charges ban them from those contracts. they haven't done that. bp insisted yesterday that they've heard no indication that that was going to happen. ril don't know if the government really wants to do that because

of the energy supplies. bp is now the biggest producer of oil and gas in the united states. do we want to take them out of the picture and have our prices increase? i don't think the obama administration wants to do that. >> you've been investigating bp and this story for several years. how have they been to deal with? have they been honest and transparent? have they been withholding things? >> a lot of times they don't really comment. they simply put out a press release and that's it. in individual cases if there's some instance where they feel like they need to respond they'll answer questions. reporters down at the new orleans times have done great work covering things and i think they probably have a better relationship with bp there. but in london, they're kind of insulated. so i guess overall that you know, they would put their money

into the ad campaigns to change their image that way and you probably saw during the olympics there were a lot of ads and sponsorships by bp. that's their effort to bounce back from this. >> mike magner, "national journal" energy and environment managing editor and he's got this great book called "poisoned legacy" folks, if you want a compelling read about the bp oil spill and the company's record on some other issues as well, just want to learn more about what happened, terrific book. mike, thanks so much for coming into the "bill press show." we appreciate it. good to have you. >> thank you. >> coming up we'll talk with bloomberg's marg et talev. we'll get the latest on president obama's negotiations with the fiscal cliff and the president's tone after the election. you're listening and watching the "bill press show." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> david shuster in for bill on this friday morning. so glad to you have with us. the quick bethis hour are the democrats going to stand firm on the bush tax cuts and allow the bush tax cuts to lapse on americans making more than $250,000 a year? or are they going to strike a grand bargain and punt? joining us on the phone is margaret talev a white house correspondent for bloomberg news. you can follow her on twitter at margaret talev or online at bloomberg.com. margaret, great to you have on the program. >> david, great to talk to you. >> so first you're heading out on a big trip to asia tomorrow. president obama, the first u.s.

president to visit burma. what's he doing on the trip? >> president obama goes to asia every year. they're trying to make a big deal that this will be his first stop after re-election but it is that time of year. he has set out to do this pivot to asia where the u.s. places a greater emphasis on building relations with the countries around china and with china at the same time and this is the southeast asia trip built around the east share summit in cambodia where he will also be the first u.s. president to go. so we will stop in thailand, in myanmar and burma and cambodia. it is the myanmar visit that is sort of narrativewise or -- most interesting. >> how so? >> well, part of it is just that there's been so much change there and move toward democracyityization but still a lot of problems and the now opposition leader who was in house arrest for many years and is now risen -- well, freed and

also risen to all of the political posts the president will be meeting with her as well as with the president of the country and we'll be at her house where she was held. there are a lot of moments and for president obama he hopes this is a chance to build some sort of prodemocracy legacy as the arabs spring and efforts have been murky. >> the president today is going to be meeting with congressional leaders over at the white house. the last couple of days, president obama has struck a very sort of -- i would say defiant tone standing firm when he's talked to progressive groups, labor union leaders about standing firm on his promises during the campaign about letting the bush tax cuts expire for americans making more than $250,000 a year. is that a nonnegotiable position or is i expected to tell members of -- or is he expected to tell members of congress, maybe we can let that go up a little higher as part of a grand bargain? >> everything is negotiable but not on the first day right? so today the meeting will be a

lot of position posturing opening statements we expect by the president and we expect statements afterwards by the lawmakers. the republicans have shown some willingness to compromise on the issue of revenue not on the issue of raising the rates and so these are the starting positions for both. the trick is that it is highly unlikely they'll actually get a grand bargain by the end of the year. so what sort of framework can they get that president obama feels comfortable enough that he can take to the bank and not be accused by his own party of giving in too much. after he won re-election. >> i haven't heard so much talk lately about sequestration the automatic defense cuts that will be coming january 1st if there's not an overall agreement and cuts to other programs. is it the assumption at the white house that congress will come up with some sort of patch or some sort of temporary fix and that gets kicked into the new year? >> it seems to be everybody's assumption, president obama has said himself the sequestration

is directly quoting not going to happen. but i think part of it also is just that every time people talk about sequestrations, investors get nervous. military community gets nervous and that is sort of -- that frustrates republicans as much as it frustrates democrats to. some extent, there is a mutually assured let's cool the rhetoric on that down right now because it is not helpful toward moving toward a deal. but it is a big underlying concern. when president obama goes to asia, in the coming week, a lot of asian nations who are concerned about china's rise are concerned about a sequestration particularly the automatic defense cuts that would take place. it is still a very real concern. there is on some gut level in d.c., a feeling of let's not even talk about this right now. nobody wants this to happen. >> correct me if i'm wrong but don't we have to deal with raising the debt ceiling again before too long. >> let's not talk about that either. there are so many things piling

up that either have to happen by the end of the year or would kick in early next year or you know february doesn't seem like that far away, right. so there are a number of things that are in some way daisy chained together as part of these negotiations. >> we're talking to margaret talev, white house correspondent for bloomberg news. what's been the mood around the white house certainly since the election? >> domestically in terms of politics, the mood has been, you know fairly assured. you see president obama publicly saying on the one hand things like you know, we don't think that just because one re-election we can get everything we want. on the other hand, a mandate to protect the middle class. so we see him bringing in labor leaders, community leaders sort of traditionally democratic-leaning organizations. trying to leverage -- trying to assure them that he has got their back on the tax stuff and trying to leverage them for activist causes. but there are a number of sort

of other issues that our concern in the white house. these are foreign policy issues going on with israel and gaza right now. with the new government and egypt and how that may play out. vis-a-vis the dispute between -- there are a lot of concerns that aren't in this sort of immediate wheel house of the fiscal cliff. that the white house is watching. >> something of a falling out between president obama and john kerry and the reason i bring that up is john kerry obviously has made it clear he wants to be secretary of state when hillary clinton leaves. had it not been for john kerry who was then a state senator from -- giving the prime time keynote speaking spot, barack obama doesn't have a campaign in 2008. in some sense, you could say john kerry is really the reason why president obama won in 2008. you would think that president obama owes john kerry and john kerry is in all of the debates

steadfast supporter. yet john kerry is being floated as secretary of defense and it is susan rice who seems to be in line to be secretary of state. what's going on there? >> well, there's a couple of things going on. one is that susan rice has always been this sort of -- of the people considered top contenders, the one who's been closest to president obama personally and the closest role inside the administration. another factor that's going on is that kerry you know, kerry is not only chairing this important committee but also represents a state where there would be immediate competition from republican to get back in if kerry were out of the picture so you know, there are senate concerns. beyond that, president obama really had no choice but to defend susan rice the other day. at his news conference from his perspective. and that -- in that defense, he didn't say he was going to name her. but had he not defended her, it

would have sent a signal he did not want to send to his friends. >> i get that. i wonder if it unnecessarily provokes republicans or sticks a finger in his eye if he nominates her because then her confirmation hearing becomes a spectacle over benghazi at a time when the administration would like to focus on other things. >> that's right. there has some sort of post-press conference analysis about that. not that he would defend her but the volume of the defense the tone of the defense. from this perspective, he wanted to put his foot down firmly and say to two senators, mccain and senator graham, is this really the fight you want to pick with me right now? but it is true that that does set a marker and now if he goes forward, you know, if he doesn't go that route people will say he backed down. if he does, those are the implications. >> we have that clip of president obama referring to senators mccain and lindsey graham. this is from the press conference on wednesday.

in which -- on a day in fact, there was john mccain, essentially bashing president obama over benghazi. and not attending a benghazi hearing that was going on. so with senators mccain and graham going after ambassador rice, the first person to go on the sunday talk shows. she got some of the narrative wrong about benghazi because she was feld wrong information by the c.i.a. nonetheless, here's the president referring to the members of the senate and republican side attacking his u.n. ambassador. >> obama: if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador, who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received and to besmirch her reputation, it is outrageous. >> margaret, is there a sense at the white house that the

senators are not showing enough deference to president obama especially in wake of the election results? >> well, i don't think president obama likes being preempted by lawmakers from the other party telling him who he should or shouldn't nominate. but i also don't think publicly that he's at least going to be saying anybody owes him anything. look, senator mccain has shown that he is willing to go out on a limb to criticize president obama and he's done it before and he will do it again. to that extent, i don't think that president obama was completely shocked. >> gotcha. finally, margaret, i gotta ask you about your bloomberg white house colleague hans nickels who threw a president at the -- who threw the president a question. i assume everybody is standing by him. >> absolutely. >> give a special kudo to hans for trying to get the question.

>> we may have to keep asking that question. >> indeed. have a great trip. margaret talev, have a great trip to asia. hope you get to have a little fun while you're over there. we appreciate you being on current this morning on the "bill press show." >> thank you so much. thanks for having me. >> all the best. folks, when we continue, we'll talk more about president obama strategies as far as dealing with republicans. a little bit more about toupee toupee chump our segment last hour and what we're saying about macy's when you're doing your holiday shopping, you should never buy at macy's. our show continues after this. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

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(vo) cenk uygur is many things. >>oh really? >>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> david shuster sitting in this morning here in washington. you can follow me at twitter.com/davidshuster. set up this next discussion. here is david letterman having some fun at the expense of some of our favorite corporations, referring to the rockefeller center christmas tree in new york. listen. >> what they do is they travel around the countryside and they look for really old people who don't understand what's going on. and then they say -- knock on the door, excuse me, you have a giant tree, we would like to buy the tree and then they swindle the elderly couple and they cut down the beloved blue spruce or whatever it is and they bring it back to new york city. well today they put it up. they put the lights on it. con ed promised they would have power to the tree.

by labor day. >> by labor day. so that takes us to macy's, right because this is the season when in addition to the tree, there is the big thanksgiving macy's day parade coming up. we're suggesting people boycott it. boycott the parade. boycott macy's. don't buy anything from macy's stores. why? because the man who shall not be named but his name rhymes with toupee chump real estate developer in new york. he's said so many outrageous things that we're all calling for macy's to fire him. go ahead and fire toupee chump. not just because the crazy things he said. he called for a revolution because of president obama's election victory. he said that this is a disaster. but not only that but the clothes that macy's features that are his signature line, they are made in china. that's right. the man who says american manufacturing needs a comeback. clothes made in china are crap.

well, the clothes he sells through macy's are made in china. >> do you remember a couple of years ago when he had that freakout in las vegas. he was talking about we need to tell the fing chinese this and the fing chinese that. how does he do that? how can you do that when you're in bed with them as closely as he is? >> not only in bed but -- well -- let's not go there. the toupee stays on or does it? with all of the activities that he has, all of the momentum? i understand this is hitting us up on twitter. >> we're tweeting at bpshow. we tweeted out the petition where you could go and sign the petition. also people are chiming in. steve o says if you really want to get some attention from macy's, occupy their thanksgiving day parade. pretty good. one tweeter says in the meantime, many of us will just dump macy's instead of dump the chump. if they keep trump they tarnish

their own reputation. it is a free country. there are plenty of other stores >> the petition is at signon.org. you sign the petition. you will join, currently 630,000 other americans who have told macy's fire this man toupee chump not only because of the crazy things he said. he questioned president obama. whether president obama is american. he has said things that are racist. he suggested president obama is hiding things in his college transcript. he showed insensitivity about hurricane sandy because the only thing he cared about was to say his nbc show would continue. by the way the clothes, they're made in china. >> by the way, quick update. since we talked about this about an hour ago the petition has added over 1,000 signatures. >> yes! go get them! >> keep it going! we're going to get this thing to a million. we're going to get to a million and then the ceo of macy's who

everybody has an opportunity to express themselves and no one represents our company. the fact of the matter is mr. macy ceo he does represent you. just like the macy's day parade represents with you those big giant hot air balloons that frighten people. you've got another balloon who frightens people. fire him! get rid of him and by the way we're not just hammering macy's. we're not just saying don't shop at the store. i'm telling everybody to also pledge that if they do the right thing, if macy's does the right thing, takes action, fires this crazy man, we should then reward macy's and i will reward macy's by buying my next couple of suits from macy's once they fire this man. until that, i'm not buying suits, i'm not buying shirts, i'm not buying ties or belts. i'm not even buying underwear from macy's. >> well, you don't wear underwear anyway so that doesn't matter. >> when i need to buy them, i used to buy them from that store.

i will not. i have to buy them someplace else. >> all right. there you go. >> we'll take a quick break. more "bill press show" after this. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. he meant, that the private sector relative to the public sector is doing okay but we need to do a lot more. that the romney campaign, they just doubled down saying yeah, that's exactly what we mean. that's what the people want.

you've heard bill's views, now let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, how about it. president obama, busy schedule today. doing no fewer than six >> at the age of 83 born in kansas city, missouri, we can report the death of hostess brands incorporated. it was once the largest

wholesale baker distributor of bakery products in the united states. they have brands including wonder bread nature's pride dolley madison butternut breads, drake brands, products including ho hos ding-dongs, twinkies. >> i lived off of ho hos as a kid. i'm upset. >> we do love them ho hos. >> they're going belly up because they haven't been able to come to an agreement with their unions so management has announced they're ceasing operations at all plants. they intend to sell off assets, lay off 18,000 employees. >> this is america! wonder bread twinkies, ho hos. >> ding-dongs. >> ding-dongs are dead. >> no! why! >> how could they do this? >> what will america's fat children eat now? >> well, i would just like to say a special prayer to all of us who sustained ourselves for so many years.

we remember on this very sad occasion we're sustained by the sustenance that we got from ding-dongs and twinkies and ho hos through the years. we remember the good times the sugar highs the artificial yellow number five. >> the sugar highs the insulin lows. [ laughter ] >> rest in peace hostess. >> hostess. >> hostess is no longer the breakry with the mostess. good-bye. but america, you'll be healthier as a result. >> go eat an apple or a banana or something for god's sake! ow more "bill press show" at the top of the hour. thanks for staying with us this morning.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> good morning everybody. david shuster here on the bill press. so glad to have you on board this morning. what a great hour we have ahead. what's going on with senator john mccain the man who in 2000 ran his complain by pledging to break the iron triangle of lawmakers lobbyists and legislation. his most famous saying lately? who the hell are you? yes, he said who the hell are you to reporter this week in washington. we'll explain what that was all about. john mccain is a little bit testy these days because of perhaps his relationship with president obama. president obama hit back at a news conference the other day accusing john mccain and

lindsey graham for inappropriately going after his u.n. ambassador over benghazi and saying they should be going after me. we have a great hour ahead to talk about that and what's going to happen with the negotiations with congress but first we have some new headlines coming up with lisa ferguson over at current. lisa? >> david, good morning everyone. now that mitt romney is no longer a contender for the white house. republicans are backing away from his ideology. this week, romney is underfire for his latest excuse for not winning the president is. he said he had a hard time competing with obama's gifts to women minorities and the youth like better healthcare access and promotion of the dream act and gay rights. republican governor bobby jindal first attacked that comment wednesday and there is no sign that he's letting up now. just yesterday jindal told cnn if you want voters to like you you have to like them first. and the party needs to appeal to 100% of the electorate. not just 53. that's of course in reference to

romney's 47% video. now new mexico governor susanna martinez is adding to that saying romney's remarks demonstrates what sets the party back. and that is that they do not think through their comments very carefully. more bad news for republicans. citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, that's drew crew is filing complaints with the s.e.c. and the fbi against karl rove and his super pac crossroads gps. crossroads is a 501c4 organization. now that means that it only has to disclose its donors if they give more than $200 to an independent expenditure like a specific candidate. the nonpartisan group crew, says rowe received millions in support of ohio senate candidate josh mendel without disclosing those donors. that is a violation of election law and crew is saying rove might have taken part in a criminal conspiracy. we're back with more after the break. stay with us.

(vo) cenk uygur is many things. >>oh really? >>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true! [ forsythe ] we don't just come up here for the view up in alaska. it's the cleanest, clearest water. we find the best sweetest crab for red lobster that we can find. [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's crabfest! the only time of year you can savor 5 succulent crab entrees all under 20 dollars. like a half-pound of tender snow crab paired with savory grilled shrimp, just 12.99. or our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake. [ forsythe ] if i wouldn't put it on my table at home, i wouldn't bring it in. my name's jon forsythe and i sea food differently.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> good morning everybody. david shuster sitting in for bill on this friday morning november 16th. so glad to have you with us today. i don't normally like to cite fox news but an interesting story breaking this morning. there is a hearing on capitol hill which general dade petraeus is going to testify about benghazi. fox news is reporting that petraeus "knew benghazi attack was terror." what makes that so intriguing is it raises the question why did petraeus' answer c.i.a. send documents to susan rice which indicated -- which led her to say that well, this was the result of a video that was made.

andan anti-muslim film. that should be an interesting one to follow. also news, bp, the oil giant which dumped -- let's see they dumped five billion barrels of oil into the gulf over 87 days. they have agreed to a $4 billion fine and penalties. most of this money will go to the national fish and wildlife federation foundation for restoration work in the gulf of mexico and another $350 million will go to the national economy of sciences. civil lawsuits are continuing from people affected as well as u.s. government. civil lawsuits could conceivably fetch up to $20 billion if it can be shown that bp in fact, acted with negligence. here's eric holder announcing what bp agreed to yesterday. >> charging bp with 11 counts of felony manslaughter. one count of felony obstruction

of justice. and violation of the clean water and migratory bird treaty acts in connection with the deep water horizon oil spill. >> peter, every time i hear that. >> tweety acts. >> the migratory bird tweety acts. >> in the same sort of sentence, talking about the deaths of 11 people. i don't know. eric holder, maybe a couple different speechwriters would be helpful. by the way, this is a big day for the american culture americana because the maker of twinkies, ho hos ding-dongs and assorted other things that have sustained peter ogborn and dan henning for most of their life, hostess has declared it is going to get rid of 18,000 employees, shut down operations, all of this because it could not agree with its unions about pay issues. here's randy talking about the situation. >> it is all the company taking away from the employees. >> all the company taking away from the employees. not being willing to give the

employees what they thought that they deserved. hostess is going down. >> look, it sucks. it is an american company. that's closing. people are going to be losing jobs. it sucks. that being said, i don't know what we're going to deep fry at state fairs anymore. >> oh, that's right. the deep fried twinkie. >> now we have a business venture. "bill press show" should make its own version of twinkies and take the market now that there is an opportunity. "full court press." dan henning. >> this is the "full court press." >> good morning on this friday. other headlines making news. celebrity chef guy fieri fired back at "new york times" restaurant critic -- >> i think i'm going to make you stop using the word chef. >> you want me to kale him guy fairy? >> that's his real name. >> he tired back at pete wells for that scathing "new york times" restaurant review of the new restaurant in new york called the food poor, inedible and greasy. he felt the writer had another agenda because the review, which was composed of nothing but

questions for the entire review, went completely overboard but fieri didn't really defend the food and service quality because it seems he would have a tough time if he tried. >> fieri. >> fairy. guy fairy. that's his name. >> founder of microsoft bill gates was spotted in the capital yesterday. being granted a privilege awarded to very few. "the hill" newspaper found him stepping off the senator's only elevator with senator rob portman. no comment from the ohio republican's office on what gates was there for. >> he's not allowed to do that. no matter how much money you have, you cannot take the senate elevator. >> can't you do it as a guest? >> you know because then -- slippery slope as they like to say. >> good point. and in sports, miguel cabrera now has the most viable player award to go with that triple crown he got this year. detroit tigers third baseman was named baseball's a.l. mvp by the baseball writers association. he hit .330 on the year.

blasted 44 home runs. national league mvp is buster posy of the world series champion san francisco giants. he's the first catcher to get that award in 70 years. >> all right. dan henning great stuff as always. joining us in studio, politico reporter reed epstein. who has been covering the presidential campaign for i don't know, the last seven years or something like that. >> for a long, long time. >> reid, we appreciate you having some coffee to wake up with us. you can follow him on twitter at read -- reid epstein. you've been reading about the feud with mccain and graham. >> it is like the 2008 campaign never ended. we had john mccain sort of at various levels of grade attacking the president over benghazi almost since the attack happened. and then on wednesday he unloaded on susan rice saying she would never be confirmed and he would do everything he could

to stop her which prompted of course the president's one sort of interesting moment at his press conference where he sort of flashed his fannings as it were -- his fangs as it were and said that mccain and graham should have to go through him if they want to get to susan rice. >> while that was going on, the president -- the news conference and taking issue with what senator mccain -- it clearly senator mccain is feeling a little bit sensitive these days because i believe it was ted barrett who is a producer reporter for cnn who covers capitol hill. he tried to ask senator mccain this week about why he was bashing president obama instead of actually attending the hearing. here was the reaction. the audio is a little bit difficult to hear. but listen very carefully. >> as a senator, i feel -- who are you to tell me -- answer -- >> who the hell are you?

john mccain usually has a pretty good relationship with reporters on the hill, right? >> john mccain sort of has this image of having a good relationship with reporters on the hill. [ laughter ] that was sort of the story in 2008 was people -- everyone still remembers his 2000 campaign when he sort of yucked it up on the bus with reporters. while george w. bush was pummeling him into nonexistence, essentially. that sort of carried on to the beginning of his 2008 campaign. once he became the republican nominee, even a little bit before then, he realized that you know, the reporters weren't all there to help him and jokes he had made about the press being his base didn't necessarily turn out to be the case during the rest of that campaign and certainly thereafter. >> on the merits of what john mccain is suggesting that susan rice's nomination to be secretary of state if the president follows through that he will block it. it does seem like the president would be perhaps sticking his finger in the eyes of republicans by nominating susan rice because then it also turns

her confirmation hearing into a carnival of benghazi, right? >> it certainly would. and thinking had been certainly before wednesday that rice's role in benghazi, it would make her nomination less likely and perhaps tip the scales more toward john kerry. the way the president reacted to the questions about that makes you think well maybe he's not going to back down now and not nominating rice would seem perhaps as caving to mccain. but we don't know yet who else is going to be -- where the other pieces are going to fall. what place he's going to have if any for john kerry. >> i don't think he wants to be secretary of defense at a time when the military is going through budget cutbacks. he's made clear he wants to be secretary of state. he's been chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. i don't think he's served on theú

armed services committee. >> you know, it's hard to know. i think at this point kerry would take either of those positions. they're both fairly prestigious. kerry earned a lot of credit with the obama team for his performance during the debate preps and i think that you know, they will try to find something for him and he's not in a position where he's going to say no if they offer him defense but it is clear he would prefer to be -- secretary of state. he's wanted that for a long time. he was a little disappointed he didn't get it four years ago. >> again, as we said in the last hour, had it not been for john kerry saying okay, state senator barack obama who's running for the u.s. senate in 2004, sure, we'll give you the prime time speaking address at my convention had it not been for that platform, you can argue barack obama doesn't have a chance in 2008. >> certainly. that certainly sort of rushed him from a fairly mid-level senate race to international superstardomness in a night.

he does owe kerry something. he has -- he gave him a prime speaking role at the convention this year which you know, you can wonder who that helps more, the president or kerry but it put him in a prime spot. and i think you know, the president would like to find a spot for kerry. it is a matter of which one and who else he has to accommodate. >> could it be because john kerry and john mccain are friends that john mccain sees the way president obama perhaps maybe saying to john kerry through the leaks in "the washington post," oh, yeah, we're considering you for secretary of defense. it is susan rice. it is the state department that john mccain sees that as somehow being disloyal to john kerry. knowing what john kerry did for barack obama and john mccain is agitated a fellow senator who is also friends with, is being disrespected in some fashion. oh, by the way, john mccain is also really angry about the conflicting stories over

benghazi and all of that creates the perfect storm. >> right, i've heard the triangulation conspiracy theory about mccain trying to trip up rice to make room for kerry. that seems -- almost one step too far even for washington. but mccain is still upset with obama for beating him four years ago. i think that's pretty clear. just the way he reacts. the way his team handled the situation this week with him missing benghazi hearing to hold a press conference to wrap obama. the way he took to the senate floor after his press conference. it was the mark of someone who is still angry with obama. not just for this benghazi situation but for much longer than that. >> reid epstein from politico will stay through the next break. we'll talk more about what we can expect over the days to come in this fight between president obama and the republicans in the u.s. senate when the "bill press show" continues.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> good morning, everybody. david shuster sitting in for bill on this friday, november 16th. reid epstein is a reporter at politico who has been covering the dust up between john mccain and barack obama, the latest one. how does this get resolved? i mean at a certain point the white house is going to need to deal with the senate. particularly because democrats they picked up a couple of seats

in the senate. they still don't have the 60 they need. you have to get some republicans to cooperate to get legislation through. the white house is going to need senators like mccain and lindsey graham. how does this get resolved? >> it will probably be resolved as part of some larger deal, you know to either to get cabinet appointees through or as part of the fiscal cliff deal that they'll come to an agreement eventually to sort of stand down a little bit. if not necessarily on the rhetoric but on -- in practice as far as blocking nominees. they'll allow mccain and graham to let off steam and pop off a little bit so long as they don't -- you know, filibuster or as long as the white house doesn't have ways to get around that. >> what do you make, reid, about the benghazi hearing today. general petraeus will be testifying. senators dianne feinstein said this will not be about his personal -- this will be about

benghazi. what is congress looking to try to get out of these hearings other than in some cases politically to deliver a black eye to the white house. but in terms of factual material. >> certainly, that's what -- there is a lot of republicans looking to deliver a black eye to the white house. they lost an election. this is sort of what they have to hang on to at this point. but the other thing about the benghazi hearing and the whole petraeus nonsense with paula broadwell and jill kelley and that saga is that it gives the white house and republicans some cover to negotiate the fiscal cliff story. because everyone -- if you watch tv, it is all -- the petraeus story. all benghazi. and if that wasn't happening, it would be all fiscal cliff. you would see mitch mcconnell and john boehner's people sort of drawing their lines in the sand. that's not really happening even though that is sort of by far much sort of bigger story as far as what's going to happen in the country. as far as -- and priority list

for both the white house and congress. >> do you think they also get that at the white house? that as long as -- as much as they may be getting hurt or not by the islamist people are talking about benghazi, it enables some room for the white house to get involved in the negotiations as well. >> it allows them to negotiate this without sort of a spotlight on fiscal cliff story which is -- you know, a story that has about six weeks left in it before some -- before taxes go up on everyone and significant spending cuts happen across the country. not just the military. >> you've been covering the hill for awhile in addition to the campaigns. do you get the sense that this will be the time when they say okay, they've reached some agreement on the tax out on the revenue side and republicans eat it a little bit. for people making more than a million dollars we'll let the tax rates go up. >> we're seeing certainly some signs that republicans are at least willing to accept that idea if not go through with it. we've seen from the republican

governors who met in las vegas this week. we saw -- my colleagues were there. they're reporting they had republican governors saying it might not be so bad if we raise taxes on people making more than half a million dollars or 3/4 of a million dollars. i think we've seen out of the hill that hill republicans are accepting of the idea that taxes are going to have to go up on some people. revenues will have to -- more revenue is going to have to be created from people who make a lot of money. it is just a matter of where the line is drawn. and will they go -- will they allow the president's idea that taxes go up on everyone who makes more than a quarter of a million dollars? maybe not that low but if the line is drawn at $500,000 or $750,000, there may be a deal to be made there. >> i have to ask you about john cornyn, republican from texas now the number two in the u.s. senate. he got the promotion even though he was in charge of senate re-election and campaign efforts in which the senators, the

republican senators instead of possibly taking control of the senate as everyone thought they might six to eight months ago given the number of democratic seats that had to be defended, they actually lost two seats so by all accounts, cornyn did a lousy job and what does the senate caucus do? the republicans? they promote the guy. >> well, i mean you can argue -- there is the argument that it is not cornyn's fault. the way the republican party is structured, he doesn't really have -- he or anybody else doesn't really have the mechanism to force nominees through in the states. there's no leader who can push people out of the race or pick candidates the way that chuck schumer did for years on the democratic side where he essentially -- if you look at a lot of the senators, he would find women prosecutors, claire mccaskill the ideal candidate. amy klobuchar in minnesota. he would have a certain image of what he wanted in a candidate.

the republicans in part because the tea party are a lot more -- lot less centralized. so these party committees -- party primaries and party committees that would nominate candidates were essentially on their own and the national party was stuck with people like todd akin who not only self-emulated but cost them votes in other races. >> reid epstein, you can follow him on twitter at reid epstein and at politico.com. thanks for coming in. great having you. >> any time. >> we have a great interview coming up with emanuel cleaver the congressman from missouri, the outgoing chair of the congressional black caucus. interesting story that he's got. we'll also talk about the future of that caucus when the "bill press show" continues.

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> welcome back, everybody. david shuster sitting in for bill press this morning. we're so honored to be joined this morning by the outgoing chairman of the congressional black caucus, congressman emanuel cleaver represents the district that includes kansas city and because of some redistricting, some rural parts as well. congressman, welcome to the show. >> good to be here. >> first of all, is there a relief that you know, you're no longer going to be in charge of the congressional black caucus? it is a lot of responsibility. two-year term. you have a lot of other stuff on your plate as well. >> i really hate leaving. i felt really badly when i asked the incoming chair if she could take over now instead of

january. it was an act of regret that i have to leave so soon. and my sarcasm sometimes -- [ laughter ] bleeds through. but it is a tough job. i am requested to speak all over the country and probably a little bit more than most of the previous chairs only because of the fact that i am seminary-trained ordained, methodist minister. so -- not only am i asked to speak at political events or events with organizations interested in government but then almost inevitably, as i was two weeks ago, went into north carolina and then was -- not only spoke at a democratic rally. then i -- preached on sunday morning. it is always can you stay over? to preach.

which i enjoy. >> it is double duty though. >> it is. i'm still an active united methodist pastor. >> really. as far as the congressional black caucus, look, it has been an amazing couple of years. what do you see as sort of the biggest items on the agenda moving forward? >> the same things that we were dealing with for the last two years. we launched a nationwide jobs tour two summers ago to try to put the fact that we needed to give more attention to the creation of jobs and that the government needed to be involved in training. son and we went around the country, drew enormous crowds, 10,000 in los angeles. it turned out. we had 7,000 in cleveland. 5,000 in atlanta. but 7,000 in miami. people standing in line sometimes eight hours a day. and in atlanta, there were three people taken to the hospital because we were talking about

the dead of summer. so people were actually taken out by ambulance. standing in line to get a shot at the jobs that we were bringing. >> do you think that more needs to be done by the obama white house on that particular issue? >> i think the president -- you know has introduced the jobs -- the president can introduce legislation. the president has proposed a jobs bill that we like. you know. he has not been able to get it through the house. he could very easily, i think get it through congress. he couldn't get it through the house. look we have unemployment numbers that are almost depression level in the latino and african-american communities. and what is important to understand that first of all people -- the romney stuff about people wanting things free and they don't want to work and all of that crazy stuff, the only way we know what the number is because those are the people who are actively looking for jobs by

going into the unemployment bureau. we know that number in exact terms. but what we've got to do is understand that when the great recession hit in 2008, people lost jobs. many of those jobs would not be open to those people if they came back at 12:00 today because the technology has changed and you can't go back and take a job that requires some technical training. so we've got to retool the american work force. not just african-americans and latinos, everyone. we're talking about -- i'm talking about those two groups because the most severely impacted -- of what's happening. we have to retrain people. you know, i would not like to believe that in an attempt to get at the president there is resistance to putting the program in place. >> talking with congressman

emanuel cleaver the outgoing chair of the congressional black caucus. he represents districts in parts of kansas city missouri. one of the other -- the immediate issue the bush tax cuts set to expire. we heard nancy pelosi, democratic leader say she hopes president obama stands firm. that his campaign pledge was that anybody making more than $250,000 should have their tax rates go up to the bush era tax levels. but it sounds like there is room for negotiation. do you believe that democrats should give up on the $250,000 and say go with a million dollars if that will help strike a deal? >> well, i'm willing to compromise. i'm not that -- interested in going up to a million dollars. although i don't think a person is wealthy at $250,000. but i think that the president has got to work a deal and we've got to be flexible.

let me just be very, very clear. if the president came and said that he struck a deal with boehner and mcconnell to go up to a million dollars, i would not be a happy person. however, i would go and have many conversations with myself and talk to myself about the fact that compromise is not necessarily capitulation. and that democracy requires compromise. we've not had democracy in many ways over the past four years because people believe that you know, that's a bad term. if you believe that you were sent to congress by god if god sent you here -- your decisions are -- so they are without any flaws and so you can feel -- anybody who goes against me is going against god. >> i want to ask you a little bit about that because when

people hear a politician talk about god wanting me to do something, usually to is the caricature of michele bachmann in minnesota who said that god wanted her to run for president. is there though a way to talk about this in a way that gives some respect to religion because i know that you're a very religious person and do you feel that god has a plan for you. >> yes. the gentleman who ran against me was told by god -- and people would say well, you know, you're theologically trained, you can probably slice him to pieces. my response was any time anybody says they were told by god to do something, i leave it alone. you know. i would say that sometimes the voice of god we hear is our own voice in disguise. and so i'm -- but at the same time i'm careful about saying well, why would god talk to you? you only have a bachelor's degree or you only -- and it was

in geography. but i think we leave that alone. now i don't think that we have to manufacture a god discussion and i became really angry with many democrats saying we've got to start talking about god. my response is god will not be pimped. are we going to talk about him so we can impress some people who believe that -- say the word "god." called the name "god." i can't do that. i think in the course of who we are, we will have conversations in which we talk about our faith. and i do that. but i'm not going to sit around and plan okay, i got a speech at 3:30, how can i put god into that speech? >> or does god want me to deliver that speech or does god want me to go do something else

today? >> and would god prefer that the sewer overflow project in kansas city, the consent decree between the e.p.a. and the justice department be done in january or does god want it in the summer? i think it goes to the ridiculous. and so i know that there are many of my colleagues who are good and decent people who believe -- i'm not making this up. they believe that god sent them here. i've heard a person say that pastor told them that their opponent in the election was satan. and so therefore this particular person, southern member of congress, believes that in winning the election, satan was defeated. so i know that there are people out there in the world -- >> can you give us a hint?

which district? which state? [ laughter ] >> okay. you know, what's so alarming about it is once you declare -- once you're convinced your opponent is satan then anything, any means to defeat that person becomes acceptable, even if it's not legal. >> that's right. that's why we have in many instances, thermonuclear campaigns because you know, i mean why would you hold back anything in your arsenal if you're trying to defeat satan? >> we're talking with congressman emanuel cleaver. our conversation continues on the other side of this break. you're listening to the "bill press show." >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court

press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

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we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> david shuster sitting in this morning, this friday morning again. so honored to be joined by congressman emanuel cleaver, the outgoing chair of the black caucus, a democrat from missouri. congressman cleaver for people who don't follow politics but maybe have heard things in conservative media or may recall some incident three years ago when there was a tea party demonstration here in washington. and there were reports and video at the time that seemed to show that somebody in that crowd, it was a riled up crowd spit on members of congress including you and there were some media figures on the right including the late andrew breitbart and others who said never happened. >> well, you know, two things. one, the person who was accused of doing it has never said that.

number two, i don't respect people who live in a fact-free world. and the reason i'm saying that is i can't remember -- i can remember clearly a woman calling in on one of the conservative radio stations from florida or something, said that didn't happen. and so somebody -- the commentator said why do you say that? she said because he voted for healthcare. and -- but the other part of it is look, these are people who are still running around saying that president obama was born in kenya. and that he's not an american citizen. even when his bit certificate -- birth certificate was presented which i think is an insult to have to do that. there are still people running around today including one billionaire who is saying he's

not from the united states. so facts no longer matter in our politically tribal country. the other thing is i would question anybody on talk radio or -- to find somebody in my community who has spent more time on race relations than me. there's nobody even going to be close. and so my entire adult life and it could be traced easily by talking to reporters at home, and citizens, has been dealing with the issue of race relations and trying to bring people together. to find a republican here in congress who if they start talking about -- who is one of the easiest persons to work with? emanuel cleaver. you know, i'm saying this --

live, in a way people can check. so i would -- it would be weird for me to then try to do something to worsen race relations. >> what was going through your mind or what did you think three years ago when this incident happened? >> i thought the guy had -- had accidentally done it because if you look at his hand, he's yelling and i'm close. sometimes as we speak you know, spitel will come out. so if you -- you don't even need a lip reader on the video, you can see me saying "you spat on me." so i thought he was going to say i'm sorry. i got carried away. i apologize. he didn't. he just kept doing it. so then i got angry. >> you were far more diplomatic than i would have been. you spat on me is not what i would have said. >> my colleagues were not happy.

i'm glad that some of them were not with me. but the police did get the guy bring him in. i said leave it alone. and you know, it was an incident that we don't need to have happen in a democracy. >> is the atmosphere changed since then or is it possible that that sort of environment could be re-created in another rally? >> yes it could. look washington is exporting anger. and there is a -- there is apparently a hungry public waiting to digest this stuff. and i think there is no limit to what we will give them. and it is unfortunate because historians will say that the last time this country was as divided as it is today, we had a civil war. and 13 states now have legislation that's been introduced since the election to

secede from the union. i mean, we are -- we are having, i think a meltdown in this country and i think the problem is far more serious than we like admit. now, you know, i think there are some media shows that probably can't exist unless there is hate. and you know, the united states of america is a unique country in the history of this world. we have people coming in from everywhere. and we are supposed to be united. and our government, we are telling people don't be united. and we are saying you know, watch us. i mean somebody shouts to the president, only time the president has been interrupted in a state of the union speech -- so what is the punishment of that for that congress member. i think he raised $100,000

overnight and millions for his re-election campaign. so you know, there are people out in the world who like that. and they want that to happen. >> congressman emanuel cleaver if there were more congressmen like you, i think a lot of these problems and issues would get solved. we are honored to have you come in with us this morning. good luck to you in the future and thank you for your service. >> good to be here. >> the final word on the "bill press show" after this. >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> peter ogborn, we learned a couple of things today. >> we did indeed. >> we learned there's such a thing called the tweety act. >> yes. >> we also learned there is a member of congress, at least one, perhaps more, a southern member of congress who believes that god chose him to run for congress and that his opponent in his most recent election was satan. >> yeah. i think i know who he's talking about. >> louis gohmert. >> that was -- i was thinking allen west. >> wow. allen west -- may have lost. >> he did lose. >> satan would have won that race. but actually -- i suppose he could make the argument that alan west was satan. amazing interview with congressman emanuel cleaver. folks, you can listen to the podcast to hear it. catch any part of the show on billpressshow.com. and that will just about do it

for the week. it has been an amazing couple of weeks for everybody. remember, congress is in session for another couple of weeks. and we've got all of the big issues like the fiscal cliff the bush tax cuts and the issue of civility that congressman cleaver was talking about that are on the horizon. so on behalf of peter ogborn, dan henning, cyprian bowlding, phil backert -- backert! where did phil come from? >> i don't know. we found him in the ditch. >> see how he dresses. >> is bill going to be back? >> he's on vacation next week. holiday. >> everybody don't watch the show then. don't buy macy's. do not buy anything from macy's. >> turn off the microphone. >> see you guys. i'm david shuster. have a great weekend.